Troutman denies 'ho's' remark
Attends meeting despite arrest
Two days after being charged with bribery, Ald. Arenda Troutman (20th) showed up at City Hall Wednesday and told her insulted colleagues she never called them all "ho's."
Instead of apologizing for comparing aldermen to prostitutes, Troutman claimed the statement, "Most aldermen, most politicians are ho's," did not originate with her.
"She said she didn't say it. She was merely repeating what some attorney who represented her on a real estate deal said and he was a bad guy. She said he was a bad dude and he's the one who said it," said Ald. Bernard Stone (50th), who talked to Troutman after a Finance Committee meeting.
(Jean Lachat/Sun-Times)
"I certainly would like to say something. At this time, I can't. I've been instructed by my lawyers not to say anything. But I certainly would like to say something," Troutman said.
Troutman was charged Monday with taking bribes -- $5,000 in cash with the promise of $10,000 more, along with free residential and commercial space -- to grease development of a strip mall that wasn't even in her ward.
She showed up midway through the meeting and entered through the front, avoiding the anteroom behind the Council chambers where aldermen normally enter and where reporters were gathered.
After taking her seat, Troutman conducted herself like she would have on any other day, asking routine questions of witnesses testifying before the Finance Committee. Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) went up to Troutman and told her he was praying for her.
If the purpose of Wednesday's appearance was to make a political statement six weeks before the Feb. 27 aldermanic election, it worked -- at least with Stone.
"It took a lot of guts for her to come to the meeting," Stone said. "She's in big trouble."